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Out of Beta, but much more Ahead

Dota 2 is hands down a fun, strategic game to play, however despite the factor that it has finally officially released out of Beta, I would like to highlight that there is still much being planned for it. First I would like to explain a little about me. I personally have a strong connection with strategy games and overall challenging games with fairly high learning curves, this being civilization 4 and 5, starcraft 2, league of legends, heroes of newerth and so on. So what I can say about Dota is that it is potentially the hardest of all of these to master. If you play the game and go to the hero screen, select meepo, then you know'll know how hard it can be. Getting into the game though has started to become easier then when it was in Beta though as tutorials, in-game guides, and improved layout has made it much easier to come into then before. Even if I didn't play Dota 1 I can tell you it is much, much smoother. But while their exists only a couple major tutorials I want to highlight that their will probably be more along the way.

In fact, valve has set up such a progressive series of goals for Dota 2 that will make the game run even stronger. For example, the dreaded leaver situation when someone loses internet or just is angry and leaves everyone 4 v 5. I personally have this problem in League of Legends, and Smite all the time. Well eventually Valve plans on reaching the point of having a bot take control of the character. Now this is amazing to me! Too many times has someone left at critical points and I suffered defeat at the hands of this. I already applaud the fact that unlike Lol or Smite I can control the leaver but even then that can be difficult with your own hero. This just shows how much work is still on the table and where this game is still going. Dota 2 despite being released out of Beta still has another 10 or 11 heroes not yet ported from Dota 1, so more strat is still coming. Another amazing thing is Dota 2 future plans to allow modding of maps and game modes, which is something the original dota at its heart was all about. Already people can mod costumes for characters and make cool in game gear (that pays the maker, Yeah valve pays people to create cosmetics) that doesn't affect the in-game gameplay. Dota 2 is a game about balance, constantly looking to create a fair strategic game. I have problems with Lol about how skins can improve champs, which adds to the P2W argument but thats a whole different debate I'm not touching.

The game has come to such a point that it runs so smoothly and in a sense it has the mindset of a game of basketball. At first your not the best shot and people will get aggressive but as you become comfortable with the game you catch on quick. You can imagine the different roles like positions on a basketball team, and make comparisons to help you. There is a great deal of help not necesarilly in the game but online too.

The Dota communitty is very strong, simillarly to the LoL communitty on websites like Reddit. I believe the Dota 2 reddit did a poll actually and found that they were the 6th most visited Reddit group (don't quote me on it, I could be mistaken since I can't find the post) There you can find people who are also learning and professionals who can answer your questions or help you learn. It's very interesting as well to see how much Valve pays attention to their fans, if a bug get's reported or an issue with Dota 2 Valve responds incredibly quickly.

One of the things that even I thought I would never take a part of was the professional series but valve has done a great job to nudge me in. I never thought I would start enjoying watching pros play but the I didn't think the same about basketball. However with so much accessibilty it becomes easy to get excited and view just about any game with the replay system and what not. Currently Dota 2 has the largest prize pool in eSports for the International 3. The community is strong and although we may have the occasional aggresive teammate, I personally find the aggresive teammate often is someone who needs a hug cause he having a bad game. (a.k.a dieing a lot or he's not sure what to either)

So in conclusion, It's honestly amazing to see how far the game has come along. However it is important to note that even now that it's out of Beta it still has a long way to go, with so much more planned ahead. Whether it be adjusting a model to give a character a better charm of likeability, or striving towards their goals the game has come along way in improving itself during Beta. However do not have the notion that it is done most of what it wants to do. It's just getting started.

Also side note for Original Game Informer Reviewer: Roshan (the big bad monster) doesn't give a buff to people who are around to slay him, he gives a huge gold bounty, a lot of experience, and drops the Aegis of the Immortal (another life), unless it's the third time you kill Roshan then he drops, Aegis and an item know as Cheese (fast regen) The buff your thinking off is Baron from League of Legends or like the Giants in the volcano in Smite. Hope that helped you learn something extra about Dota 2. Other then that very nice review, and you are awesome, have a wonderful day :)